Anthropocene is the way in which humans have had an impact on earth. It can be shown through photography by taking photos of things such as wastage, pollution, litter, and other negative things which have come about due to human activity. Animals are suffering the effects of the increasing population size as the need for more food increases the amount of animals being killed also increases, Economists estimate that by the year 2050, global meat production must increase by 73 percent to meet the expected 43 percent boost to the world’s population. Due to this animals are kept in unfair, inhumane conditions and bred for the one purpose being human consumption which is completely unfair.

Anthropocene in Jersey

As we enter a new era, the Anthropocene, the two largest threats that face humanity are the climate crisis and biodiversity collapse. In recent decades, human populations have risen, placing increased pressure on natural resources. This has caused a considerable rise in Greenhouse Gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides from expanding agriculture and burning of fossil fuels. Approximately 77% of land and 87% of oceans have been directly modified by human impacts and therefore, sustainable growth often appears impossible. Due to an increasing human population and rising consumer demands contributing to the climate crisis, not to mention the large amounts of fossil fuels we emit each day causing humans to be the biggest cause of climate change and we must now make a change to stop climate change. Although a relatively new science, blue carbon (carbon stored by the ocean) has become increasingly appealing as a marine-based solution. However, macroalgae, things like seaweed, are yet to be included in such assessments. This is a huge disadvantage to European coastal areas and islands, such as Jersey, as their marine habitats are often macroalgae-dominated. Jersey, in the Channel Islands, may utilise its sizeable intertidal zone to restore current macroalgal habitats, facilitate new growth or establish seaweed aquaculture. Approximately 1730 tonnes of organic carbon are currently stored in brown macroalgae biomass in Jersey’s intertidal zone. Additionally, sheltered areas of coastline contained significantly higher densities of carbon and habitats varied significantly in their carbon stock. Another major sign of Anthropocene in Jersey is the large amount of scaffolding works which are constantly taking place all over the island. These scaffolding events demonstrate the largely increasing population and how we are almost running out of space and constantly in need of new houses or flats. This clearly demonstrates how people have an effect on earth as we are always destroying the land in order to make more space for humans in order to keep up with our forever increasing population size.

 Analysis:

This photo was taken by Alexander Grir and it strongly demonstrates how bad climate change has gotten. This photo of polar bear feeding from a garbage dump was taken by the Russian village of Belushya Guba during 2018, 6 years ago meaning this could be much worse now. Soon after this during 2019 a state of emergency was declared due to dozens of polar bears entering the villagers home as well as other public buildings. The polar bears were forced to compete for food on land due to the melting arctic ice leading to the destruction of their natural habitat. This shows the theme of Anthropocene as it demonstrates how humans have had a negative impact on earth by ruining animals habitat’s as a result of climate change and the emission of fossil fuels.

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